Fred Wilpon, Please Stop Speaking

This morning I awoke thinking today would be like any other off day for the Mets. Quiet.

Then I read "Madoff's Curveball" by Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker. It appears, even on an off day the Mets find a way to slip up.

In this very lengthy article, Mets owner Fred Wilpon ripped Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran.

After calling Reyes a "racehorse," Wilpon went on to say:

"He thinks he's going to get Carl Crawford money. He's had everything wrong with him. He won't get it."

Then he had this to say about Wright:

"A really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar."

When I thought I was done reading these gems, Wilpon went on to say the following about Beltran:

“We had some schmuck in New York who paid him based on that one series. He’s sixty-five to seventy per cent of what he was.”

Finally, for good measure, Wilpon had this to say when speaking about Ike Davis:

"Good hitter. [Expletive] team, good hitter."

Before you go and call for Wilpon's head for making such comments, stop and think. I guarantee many fans have made these same comments themselves.

Wilpon prides himself on not being just an owner, but a fan as well. That's the problem, however. He's not just any other fan.

What bothers me, and most fans for that matter, is not necessarily what he said, but that he actually said it...out loud...to a reporter. Big time public relations no-no.

How Wilpon's words will effect the team, only time will tell. Will this be a distraction to the players? Will it hinder the teams efforts to sign free agents in the future? Nobody has any answers at this point.

While there has been no official statement made by the Mets in regard to the whole situation, David Wright and Terry Collins did provide brief comments.

Wright e-mailed ESPN New York the following response:

"Fred is a good man and is obviously going through some difficult times. There is nothing more productive that I can say at this time."

Mike Puma of the New York Post tweeted the following comments from manager Terry Collins:



I must say, after all the hoopla, this was a nice tactic by Toobin to get page views. Take out these quotes, and it was a pretty good read.

Thoughts on the matter? Leave a comment below.